Spa umbrella

ell battle to cope at Christmas: Charities warn they will struggle to keep up with unprecedented demand for their services at Christmas as thousands of West Australians face a bleak festive season below the poverty line.
While Christmas is always the busiest time of year, job losses triggered by the global financial crisis are expected to add to pressure on organisations already buckling under an avalanche of calls for help from people unable to cope with the high cost of housing, fuel and food.
Father Brian Morrison said the number of people seeking help at his West Perth crisis care centre had increased about 40 per cent this year and he expected a further rise of up to 20 per cent next year. The centre was fielding an average of 15 calls a day from homeless people and shelters requesting food and clothing.
Charity Link manager James Marley said the umbrella organisation, which represents 110 charities, would be stretched. He anticipated a 20 to 30 per cent increase in requests from struggling families who could not afford to buy toys for their children for Christmas.
Father Brian has already started fundraising for Christmas.Charity Link will launch its appeal tomorrow, calling on West Australians to donate new toys, hampers and money. Also, Ronald McDonald House Charities is seeking donations of new toys for its annual childrens Christmas party next weekend.
St Vincent de Paul Society State president Clement Astruc said a rise in unemployment would inevitably mean more people would need help to provide their families with essentials.
St Vinnies will launch its Christmas appeal in late November, aiming to raise $600,000

Cambridge actively uses Turnitin plagiarism detection software in many of its faculties to try and combat plagiarism within its institution.
Universities are also being advised to review their plagiarism policies in light of new evidence which suggests some students might be using Facebook to cheat. Plagiarism experts have warned universities and colleges to be aware of students copying from each other when discussing coursework on social networking sites.
Gill Rowell, from the consultancy Plagiarism Advice, said universities needed to reassess their policies on plagiarism with internet working in mind . However, she insisted that institutions were treating incidents of plagiarism seriously enough.
University plagiarism experts will discuss cheating with Universities UK, the umbrella group for vice-chancellors, on 19 November.

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